U.S. Pat. No. 3,517,874 discloses a fastener attachment, comprising a pair of clamp members, which is particularly adapted for use with a pair of locking vise type pliers to permit very convenient application of fastener assemblies to cloth, leather, flexible plastic, rubberized fabric, and like sheet materials. The fastener assembly may be in the nature of a snap, an eyelet, a rivet, or a similar type of assembly including a pair of elements which are joined together in sandwich-like relation with the piece of material to which the assembly is being applied.
Use of the fastener attachment of this patent, particularly in conjunction with a vise type pliers, permits application of very substantial clamping pressure to the fastener assembly. In this manner, a suitable hole is automatically punched in the material to which the fastener elements are being applied, with one of the elements usually being swaged or otherwise deformed to permanently hold the fastener elements together in sandwich-like relation with the material. The fastener attachment for the pliers can be readily provided in various configurations to permit the application of a very wide variety of the different fastener assemblies, and because of the ease of use provided by the attachment, an almost limitless number of applications present themselves. The removable fitment of the clamp members of the attachment to a pair of vise type pliers is a particularly desirable feature of the device since it avoids the need for relatively expensive specialized fastener-applying tools, with the vise type pliers otherwise being a handy and useful tool in its own right.
The construction of the fastener attachment of the above patent is desirably straightforward for economical manufacture and affordable use. Each one of the clamp members of the attachment defines a generally rectangular cavity for receiving a respective one of the jaws of a pair of vise type pliers. The clamp members may comprise suitably resilient plastic, nylon, polycarbonate, or metal. The clamp members are usually configured to exhibit sufficient flexibility so as to permit secure, yet releasable, fitment to the pliers jaws. Thus, the clamp members can be readily fitted in generally opposing relation on the pliers jaws, with the elements of the fastener assembly positioned therebetween on respective sides of material to which the assembly is being applied. The pliers are then operated, and in a matter of seconds the fastener assembly is permanently affixed to the material.
While the above-described fastener attachment has found widespread consumer acceptance, the manner in which the attachment is fitted to a pair of pliers can in some instances act to limit the versatility of its use. Specifically, it is preferred that the clamp members be mounted on the jaws of the pliers in a secure manner, and accordingly the clamp members of such fastener attachments have in the past been suitably dimensioned to provide this secure fitment. However, vise type pliers are readily available having jaws of different sizes and configurations. For example, the pliers may be of the so-called straight jaw type wherein the jaws are each generally rectangular (when viewed in plan). In contrast, vise type pliers are also available which include jaws of a tapered configuration wherein the rear portion of each jaw is wider than it nose or front portion. Because of this difference in size and configuration of the jaws of different pairs of pliers, it has not generally been possible in the past to use the clamp members of a fastener attachment which have been sized for one pair of pliers on a differently sized pair of pliers, thus somewhat limiting the versatility of such an attachment.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a fastener applying clamp attachment for a pair of pliers which is configured to accommodate secure yet releasable fitment to different pairs of pliers having differently sized jaws.